What if Tank classes could only meatshield?

[Phoenicia]

I skipped the past 3 pages because I dun wanna read! :P

For tanking to be fun and interesting to me, I need to "feel" like I'm a threat to the enemy and that's why I'm focused. Not via imaginary taunts, but through "real threatening" actions. In the end I'm not tanking because I wanna get smacked due to some masochistic tendencies! (Though let's admit in, almost everyone in here has a small masochist in them! We're tanks!) I'm tanking to "protect" my allies and form a front line.

This can be done in many ways:

1- Look threatening! Be in that heavy armored with grim colors and spikes on my armor! What's worse than a scary big dude in metal-clad suit and lots of spikes? A scary big dude in metal-clad suit and lots of spikes that calls your mom names! Lol

2- "Feel" threatening! This beast hits hard! Ignoring them would probably be very bad. (SE chose this path mainly).

3- Be disruptive! This works more in PvP based games. Instead of just filling up an imaginary threat bar, you disrupt enemies... HARD! Be it by overly protecting allies via shields/covers/heals, or by interrupting everything the enemies try to do. Stun, interrupt, slow, heal, shield! They wanna go over to your healer? Snare and root! They GOT to and wanna hit a friend? Cover. They wanna heal? Reduce healing! Cast bar? Nope.jpg.

You know the saying: "Dogs that bark don't bite"?

Any combination of various levels of the three above ends up "good" for me.

To answer the OP question: If all I do is wave a metal stick with a pointy or concave end and see numbers in aggro, but not damage, I would not tank. Heck, the lack of point three in this game is probably why I'm SMN main atm. (Also that AF is too cute!)